


Reaching Out

by Thewildeqoute



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, I Don't Even Know, I Love This Pairing So Much, Muggle AU, Neighbors, New York, University Student Hermione, don't do this at home, fashion expert Daphne, getting rid of internalized misogyny, just two girls with a lot of issues, late night drunk baking, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 11:21:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15218069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thewildeqoute/pseuds/Thewildeqoute
Summary: Hermione is starting to realize how exhilarating it is to be wanted by Daphne Greengrass. Because Daphne only wanted the best.





	Reaching Out

Hermione knew when it was time to move on, Hogsmeade was too small a town for what she wanted to do in her life. It was hard leaving Ron and Harry and everyone she had ever known, but New York was worth it, Columbia was worth it, or that what she kept telling herself as she hauled boxes across the studio apartment, that she definitely couldn't have afforded if it wasn’t for her grandparents inheritance. The apartment itself was in the lower West side and was quite lovely with its wooden floors and a kitchen that was fairly new, not that Hermione was ever going to use it. The thought of food made her realize how long it has been since she had actually eaten and she walked over to the wall where her phone was charging, she was in the mood for Thai. 

Hermione was taking out the trash when she saw her for the first time. The door across the hall opened and a tall blonde man walked out, he looked like a model with his white shirt and boots. He looked her up and down and smirked at her as he leaned against the door frame. She dreaded to think what kind of picture she made in her worn yoga pants and Harry’s old soccer jersey with the small hole in the right shoulder. He smirked and turned his head to talk to the open apartment behind him.

“Daphne,” he called and then turned his eyes to see if she was there, which she was, garbage bag in her hands and all, “Come meet your new neighbour.”

“Draco? I thought you left.”

Daphne was beautiful with a full head of bouncy, shiny blonde hair and her face had just the right amount of makeup that Hermione had never learned to do, despite Lavender’s insistence. She looked at Hermione and smiled with the sort of polite indifference that she sometimes used when talking to friends of her parents.

“Welcome to the building,” her voice was steady and stronger than what Hermione was expecting.

She didn’t know what to say so she just nodded and stared as the model  _ Draco  _ left and Daphne smiled at her again and closed the door and Hermione was left alone in the hall, garbage bag in her hands.

 

*********************************************

 

Hermione didn’t speak more than five words to Daphne in the handful of times they ran into each other in the following three month. They just nodded at each other. Hermione didn’t know her schedule exactly but she predicted that she left before Daphne and by the time she came home Daphne was also coming home from wherever she was, always impeccably dressed and never a hair out of place. Hermione was far too busy in those first three months in New York. Her first day of school was overwhelming but luckily she made friends with a girl in her class. Padma, a New York local, who was a godsend. They had spent countless nights studying and devouring food that Padma’s mum had sent her all the way from Staten Island. Those studying nights also involved copious amounts of wine. 

It was when Padma had to cancel on one of those studying sessions because her twin sister was back in town that Hermione saw Daphne for more than three seconds again. There was a knock on the door as Hermione was staring at the fridge trying to decide between a grilled cheese sandwich or leftover pizza for dinner.

Daphne stood there, her hair in a high ponytail and her face with the perfect amount of makeup. She was wearing workout clothes and her headphones were dangling from around her neck. Hermione was angered by her perfection, because in the rare times that she actually tried to exercise she always managed to end up red, out of breath and her hair an even bigger mess.

 

“I’m sorry but I must have got some of your mail by accident,” she extended her hand with a couple of envelopes and of course her hands were soft and perfect in every way. 

 

“Thank you.”

Daphne nodded and she turned to return to her apartment but she turned back to her, “Oh, I forgot a couple of friends are coming over later tonight, I'll try to keep the noise down but they have been known to be somewhat of a pain in the ass.”

Hermione nodded and was going to close the door when Daphne smiled and spoke again, “Would you like to come?”

Hermione looked at Daphne and her smile and her hair and her perfectly stylish workout clothes and she knew that she definitely didn’t want to go. She knew girls like Daphne, girls with perfect hair and perfect teeth and who thought that the fact they were pretty meant anything. She knew girls like Daphne who had more hair appointments in a month than brain cells and who would turn on you at the flip of a switch. Girls who shared none of her interests. They were the girls that boys like Ron went to, the kind that were never genuine or real or thought that there was more to life than boys and make-up and the next party. They never wanted _ more. _

Hermione knew girls like Daphne. 

Hermione was rarely wrong.

“I’m sorry I have a test I need to study for.”

Hermione is pretty sure she imagined the disappointed look on Daphne’s face, “Oh, another time then.”

 

*********************************************

 

“Harry I’m fine. I swear.”

“I’m just worried you’re always so busy and you’re a city girl now, how can I be sure you’re eating or sleeping or Ginny gross that’s Hermione.”

She smiles as she hears the youngest Weasley’s voice in the background. 

“What did she say?”

“Stop, I’m talking on the phone,” there's loud laughter and the distinct sound of something hitting the floor, “Fine I’ll ask. Hermione Ginny wants to know if you found anybody to sleep with yet.”

“Tell her I’m busy.”

“She already told me to tell you that that is not an excuse and that you need a good fuck,” she could almost hear the pain in his voice.

“Did she threaten you?”

“With bodily harm if I don’t repeat her message verbatim.”

She could hear music and laughing and the distinct noise that she had come to uniquely associate with the Weasley twins. Harry was talking to someone and Hermione had to force herself to remember the way she felt in those parties, like an outsider, because if she didn’t then homesickness wil settle in.

“Hey, Hermione I have to go, Ginny is getting too drunk for her own good and she’s about to punch someone.”

“Go save the poor bastard.”

He laughed and the homesickness hit her like a train, “Will do and Hermione-” the pause made her miss him even more.

“Yeah Harry.”

“Merry Christmas.”

Hermione probably wouldn’t have heard it if she wasn’t already so close to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw Daphne struggling to open the door of her apartment as her hands were laden with grocery bags. Hermione didn’t know what made her open the door and offer a helping hand, maybe it was the fact that she was alone and apparently so was Daphne, maybe because the sight brought back memories of when she first moved in and Daphne had smiled at her, maybe it was the fact that, while she had been alone before she did not remember a time after meeting Harry and Ron that she had felt so lonely.

  
  


_ ********************************************* _

 

Daphne’s apartment had the same layout as hers, but had much nicer furniture and a multitude of plants that made it seem like it somewhere where someone actually lived and not just a place to study and eat and drink. The bags were filled with flour and sugar and baking sheets and other baking essentials. 

“Are you opening a bakery?”

Daphne turned around and smiled at her while putting the eggs in her fridge, “I was just in the mood for cookies and since I’m spending Christmas alone I just have to bake them myself.”

Hermione looked at the kitchen, that looked barely used, at least they had that in common, “Have you ever done this before?”

She shrugged, “How hard can it be?”

Hermione wanted to tell her that it was harder than it looked because she had tried before and had ultimately failed.

Daphne pulled out her phone and searched for a recipe, after reading it out to Hermione she glanced at her. Her eyes were green, and Hermione felt unsettled, she was used to the bright green eyes of Harry, not this green. Like moss and woodlands, which she knew all about being a resident of Hogsmeade, except her eyes didn’t bring her the same feeling of mundanity and the utter discomfort of knowing that she was settling that she usually felt when thinking about Hogsmeade.

“Are you going to stay?”

She sighted, “I’ll need wine.”

 

_ ********************************************* _

Hermione has never enjoyed being wrong, but she is wrong about Daphne. Drunken baking becomes a tradition, one that is very unsafe but theirs. She sees the weird looks Parvati gives her and the surprise in Harry and Ron’s eyes as she introduces them to her  when they visit. 

Because Daphne is the type of girl that Hermione usually hates, except Hermione can never hate Daphne.

Daphne isn’t shallow or stupid. Daphne is smart and brave. Daphne had the guts to stand up to her parents, to abandon her inheritance and work in a fashion magazine because that's what she wanted. Hermione was staring to find out how completely exhilarating it is to be something wanted by Daphne Greengrass. Because Daphne only wanted the best.

Daphne made Hermione feel the way that she felt when she got her acceptance letter. Like success and escape and excitement. The feeling of reaching out for so much more. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> THIS IDEA CAME TO ME ONE DAY AND WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE. I just love these two girls so much and I feel like its perfect because Daphne will teach Hermione to not judge people so quickly. I'm all for that character development and getting rid of internalized misogyny.


End file.
